Thanks Chad. My back is good to go, it actually got a bit tight from my arch on the bench press (which is really big, I'm told). It's fine now, just a bit of soreness all over, and I now am pretty much taking off until Saturday when the guys will be throwing HG stuff again.

Thanks Chad. My back is good to go, it actually got a bit tight from my arch on the bench press (which is really big, I'm told). It's fine now, just a bit of soreness all over, and I now am pretty much taking off until Saturday when the guys will be throwing HG stuff again.

Ah, I do that too sometimes. I have an elongated spinous process on one of those low vertebrae, so if I'm not paying attention to keeping my arch a bit more shallow than I am capable of going, I'll end up with a sore low back after bench press day. My stupid trick is to squeeze my butt cheeks really hard before I start the lift, it seems prevent me from being able to over arch.

Disclaimer--the gym I was at only had 10#, 25# and 45# plates, so it was difficult to get near the numbers I was supposed to hit. I did what I could, and by the time I left, Danny had gone and bought some 5# and 2.5# plates to solve the issue.

As I've been feeling a bit drained this week--maybe the meet took more out of me than I though it would--I decided to just do the "Jack Shit" version of the "5" day. It's nice to be at a point where even when I hit the minimum numbers that I'm still getting rep PRs!!! I have been thinking of adding some assistance-slash-conditioning after my upper body oriented days, and I did this today.

10 minute EDT (Escalating Density Training) session:

35# double KB presses = 45 total reps

53# double KB bent-over rows = 45 total reps

I obviously need to go up in weight. I liked the 10 minute limit (rather than the normal EDT 15 minute Rx). I believe I will be doing the same thing for the DB curls and skullcrushers that I followed up my chin/dip workout with the other day. The gun show may be returning to town. LOL

Thursday 10/14/10: IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Rest. No workout.

I have now entered the Masters division of OL (and some PL). I'm actually happy about that, as I'm just getting towards the intermediate level, while most guys are injured by now and sort of on their way out. I like where I'm at.

I'm not doing squat today. Had a gluten-free pizza for lunch, my first one ever.

Wow. Just glanced at the first post of mine in this training journal where I started at a BW of 175#. I pretty much run at 195-198# these days, with brief forays into the 200s. Being stronger is nice too.

Friday 10/15/10: Rest. No workout.

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Saturday 10/16/10: Rest. No workout.

I was supposed to do my first of two weekend OL workouts today. I ended up being the sweet guy and letting my preggo wife go to an all-day scrapbooking event while I worked in the morning and babysat in the afternoon.

Foam rolled quads/ITB
Lacrosse ball TFL, piriformis, VMO

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Sunday 10/17/10: Hill walk, snatch and 5/3/1 "5" front squats.

8:30am
Hilly 2.5 mile walk with me mum and the dog

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3:30pm
Made up a bunch of MobilityWOD stuff.

The plan was to work up to 80% on the snatch, my bad math actually had me doing 75% today.

Front squats were calculated to be done at an estimated 1RM of 350#. This would account for the 300# x 2 set I did before I stopped doing front squats 3 months ago. I knew going in that this was going to be a stretch. I also had to stay extra-quiet during the set since Taryn was in the other room.

Actually, when I look at my old rep PRs, that last set is nothing to bitch about. Anyway, I decided to finish the rest of this month's 5/3/1 cycle based on a theoretical 1RM of 340# instead of 350 and give it another crack next month. Shoot, to actually imagine front squatting 350 is pretty awesome anyway, IMO. Yay me.

OK. My math skills need some help. The plan was to go to 80%. That should have been around 72kg (160#). For some reason, I thought it was 82kg (180#). Did a little shoulder tweak on the 175# single, did some decompression with a green band, it has seemed to be fine after that! Thank G-d.Basically I lifted heavier than I wanted to at this point in my return to OL, it bit me in the butt a bit, hopefully everything is still peachy.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL 5/3/1 "3" DAYS ARE BEING MODIFIED TO ENTAIL 80/85/90% WEIGHTS INSTEAD OF 70/80/90% AS IT IS WRITTEN. ON THE "1" DAY, THE FINAL SET IS A DOUBLE INSTEAD OF A MAX REP SET. NO MORE MAX REP SETS UNLESS I'M FEELING CHEEKY.

Holy cow. So because I've switched gyms (to Evolution and my garage), I have no more place to do bar dips. I've decided to switch to ring dips. I decided to start slow, which was good, because I'm shaky as hell on the rings at this point.

Not so sure about the JM presses. My left elbow kept doing a single pop and my scapulae didn't want to stay retracted. It was weird. Time to move up in weight on both exercises since I hit the 30-rep point.

I need to buy some 35# DBs for my garage, 30s were as high as I had before (didn't ever use DBs much since this gym was in effect). Crap. This whole "getting stronger" thing is wreaking havoc on my wallet. I think I'm going to need more bumpers soon too! I may just have to "borrow" the Bowflex (?) adjustable dumbbells sitting around my parents' house.

Did about 2.5 days worth of mWODs in front of the TV after dinner last night. Love that stuff. Handstands (3 attempts a day) are progressing very well, I do believe that getting stronger in the press is helping that immensely, that and doing 3 attempts nearly every day!

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Tuesday 10/26/10:Rest. No workout.

I'm generally sore all over today. Particularly in the biceps and pecs. Grip is a bit tired. Almost lifted today but decided not to. In order to get in all my training sessions this week (despite moving the office this weekend), I will have to train the next three days in a row (two OL/squat days, one dip/chin day), because I don't think I'll be able or motivated to train this weekend.

Trying to switch from using "workout" and "working out" to "training session" and "training", both here in my log and in my head.